No. 6 Ocean View sprints past No. 3 Mission Viejo
SANTA ANA - Mission Viejo coach Troy Roelen glanced over at Ocean Viejo co-coach Tim Walsh in the interview room and smiled, humbled but gracious in defeat.
“You should join the South Coast League,” said Roelen, and the two laughed.
The Seahawks had just run away with a 92-80 victory against the Diablos in the morning session of the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei High.
Both coaches called Saturday’s nonleague contest a playoff preview of sorts. The difference is No. 3 Mission Viejo (21-3), which currently sits in second place in the loaded South Coast League, faces competition of this caliber regularly.
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No wonder Roelen quickly dismissed the disappointing outcome.
“Just flush this and move on,” Roelen said. “We’re trying for a league title, not individual games.”
It might have meant a bit more to No. 6 Ocean View (22-3), which has won its nine Golden West League games by an average of 35.6 points.
“For our guys to play the way we did means a lot to our program,” Walsh said. “They’ve been looking at this one on the calendar. We haven’t played a team like this in a long time.”
It was hard to tell. The Seahawks effectively worked inside out from the opening tip, with 7-foot center Conor Clifford doing the heavy lifting in the paint. He finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds. Four others scored in double figures for Ocean View, which shot 52.1 percent from the field.
“Our next big game is the one ahead of us,” Clifford said. “But everybody’s been looking forward to this one. It’s a big checkpoint to see where we’re at. I think we have a chance at CIF and maybe state.”
The Seahawks never trailed and jumped out to a 27-15 lead in the first quarter. They led by as much as 23 before a 19-4 Diablos run in the fourth quarter made it 80-72. Following a Clifford layup, Mission Viejo guard Cordell Anderson sank his sixth 3-pointer to make it a 9-point difference. But Josh Mishler layups on Ocean View’s next two trips down the floor sealed it.
Anderson had 18 points for Mission Viejo, guard Max Redfield had 21 points and 11 rebounds and forward Evan Zeller had 16.
“I don’t think we’re intimidated by anybody,” said Walsh, though he admitted that coming in he was “very curious” about how his team would fare. “We’ll play hard. We talk about establishing that in the first quarter. They’ve done a good job of that, establishing a pace of the game.
“This was a test. It’s good to see us play at this level in a big game against a big opponent.”
Also in the Nike Extravaganza:
JSerra 76, Colony of Ontario 73 (OT): Forward Jamal Aytes had 26 points and 15 rebounds and center Kyle Ingram had 16 points and 9 rebounds as the No. 5 Lions (16-7) beat the Titans.
Los Alamitos 56, Upland 50: Forward Ryan Hurst had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Griffins (14-11) over the Highlanders.
